The president of the Panameñista Party, José Isabel Blandón, announced that next Monday, April 4 at 10:30 a.m. they will present an action of unconstitutionality against the ruling of the Electoral Court (TE) that revoked the decision to lift the electoral criminal jurisdiction for Ricardo Martinelli.
“We will do it in defense of the Constitution, of unconstitutionality and of justice,” said Blandón.
According to the group, the Electoral Court, when trying to request evidence from the Ordinary Court to demonstrate the validity of the specialty principle that Martinelli’s defense alleged, was exceeding its functions and reaching the extreme.
“They lack the competence to analyze and resolve substantive issues in criminal proceedings,” they had previously established in a statement.
It should be remembered that in the first place, the third judge of Criminal Cases, Baloísa Marquínez, had asked the Electoral Court to lift the electoral criminal jurisdiction of Ricardo Martinelli, later the second electoral administrative judge effectively lifted the figure on February 23. However, Martinelli’s defense filed an appeal against the decision and finally on March 23 the Magistrates of the TE decided to revoke the lifting of the electoral criminal jurisdiction.
The ruling was approved by judges Alfredo Juncá and Heriberto Araúz, while judge Eduardo Valdés saved his vote, alleging that the case was requested because of what was related to a party that did not exist when the complaints against Martinelli were made for the Odebretch case in 2015 and New Business in 2017.
